The Only Thing I Know
by Of Healing Love
Summary: He was out for revenge against the one who had dared to use Real Nightmare against him. Death was too kind for her - he would make her suffer. He wanted to twist her until she was only a shadow of her former self; he wanted to make her feel his pain. He did not anticipate that she would forgive him without his permission and show him kindness - that she would save him from himself.
1. The End of a Chapter

_So, uh, yeah...I have absolutely no business starting a new story. But this idea came to my head and begged to be written, so I figured I'd entertain it for a chapter and see how all of you liked it. If it's insanely popular, I'll continue it, but at the moment I only have this chapter written. I like to be a few chapters ahead on this kind of thing, so..._

_If nobody thinks I should continue it, I'm just going to mark it as complete and leave it alone. So it won't go away, but it won't have a Chapter One, either. (Technically this would be the prologue.) But...yeah._

_So, tell me what you think!_

_And yes, you can berate me for starting another story, but do it in PM so I can at least justify myself! ;)_

_Important Things to Note:_

_1. To my knowledge, it was never clearly said who was doing the controlling of the Archbishop's mind and all those people's dreams in the Key of the Starry Skies arc, but it seemed that Midnight was the most likely culprit, so I used that pseudo-fact and ran with it. In canon, this would probably not fit, but it's Fanfiction, so cut me a break? Maybe?_

_2. Midnight may be OOC, but I'm playing off the fact that he's totally pissed off at having been beaten by Fairy Tail a second time. I hope that makes sense._

_3. About number 2...hell, everyone might be OOC. I don't really know what I was thinking when I wrote this except that it had to be written. It's not even edited._

* * *

**The End**

The guild had grown complacent after their victory with the Infinity Clock, he noticed.

It enraged him.

Watching their casual but heartfelt interactions made him sick. They went about their days like always—they were a rowdy bunch and there was always a scuffle waiting to happen, but there was a certain peace to their existence that permeated everything they did. It seemed that they had picked up exactly where they had left off from where they had been before ending his perfect plan. They were unaffected by the ruin they had caused others; they were unapologetic.

Disgusting. They should know better.

Their guildmaster, Makarov Dreyar, was a merry old coot who lived and laughed and loved freely as though there was no pain or struggling in the world. Such a lack of awareness made Midnight want to strangle him, but he was forced to bide his time because Makarov wasn't the reason he was in Magnolia, stalking this pitiful excuse for a guild.

Natsu Dragneel grated on his nerves as always, but Midnight could admire the boy's tenacity in the very least. Natsu was strong, he admitted, although most of his victories were based on luck. He would give no other concession to the young man. He knew he would have defeated the pink-haired dragon slayer if it hadn't been for outside interference on the battle—and it was that very same interference that had led him to this position of watching the guild for his moment of opportunity.

There was Erza Scarlet, as well, whom he was eager to fight against once more to properly claim victory. He still wasn't sure to this day how exactly she had beaten _him_, but he mostly put it up to a certain kind of strange luck, much like Natsu's. Midnight refused to believe that these _feelings_ they spoke of were what gave them the strength to defeat their enemies. However, when he fought her this time he would not stop at simply defeating Erza; she, too, had played a part in the foiling of his plan and deserved death like all the others of the guild, Natsu and Makarov included—even though their deaths would not happen for a while. They would be of more use alive at this point.

Only one of them would escape death and that was purely because dying was too merciful an outcome for her. She deserved pain and suffering—she deserved to feel what she had put him through. As he was estranged from his father, she would be estranged from her friends. When he was done with her, she would wish for death.

He would deny her pleas and force her to live—and he would thoroughly enjoy the taste sweet victory.

If he could not destroy the world, he would at least destroy the one who had taken his triumph away from him. It was small compensation, but he trusted that this revenge would quell at least a tiny part of the rage he felt towards this pathetic but somehow doubly-victorious wizard guild.

At the moment, his target was walking down the street window-shopping with Natsu. She smiled widely as though she hadn't brought about his ruin; she laughed without a care in the world. Not even the small frown that adorned her face when she didn't have enough money for a piece of jewelry she'd been coveting broke her cheerful countenance. He scowled.

He absolutely _loathed_ her.

He watched from not too far away, his invisibility spell doing him well. As he was, it would be difficult to disguise himself in the center of Magnolia—the Council was still after him. They would never catch him, of course, but prudence kept him from exposing himself. He had no care for needless bloodshed either way, but if Fairy Tail caught wind of his personal mission to destroy Lucy Heartfilia, they would certainly stand in his way. He wouldn't give them the chance.

It had been a month since he'd been defeated, but he'd only been in Magnolia a week so far. Patience was the name of the game—it would pay off in due time. Before he stole her away from her friends permanently, he had to bring about her exile from the guild. Kidnapping her would be easy enough, but it wouldn't be as satisfying if her friends were constantly searching for her, concerned for her wellbeing.

Their persistence would give her hope and he couldn't have that.

This was why he planned to take control of her using her dreams, much like he had with the Archbishop. He had observed enough of the guild throughout the week to notice a friendly but nonetheless serious rivalry between her and another guild member named Lisanna. They both longed for Natsu's affections secretly while the dragon slayer remained completely oblivious.

There was nothing like crushing one's chance at love to instill hopelessness, and in the process, he would alienate her from her friends.

"Natsu, stop!" she cried out playfully, startling Midnight from his vengeful reverie.

"Come on, Lucy! I can spare the money," Natsu insisted, shoving the coins into her wallet. "Besides, you've been wanting that thing since we came back from Tenrou Island."

Her brow furrowed and she shoved him lightly, but she was laughing. "Come on, if we do another mission I'll have enough…I think…" She didn't seem too certain. "Rent's coming up," she said mournfully. "After the Infinity Clock incident, I've been barely scraping by."

"We'll go on a mission tomorrow!" Natsu announced, and his blue Exceed nodded happily.

"There was a mission in Hargeon Port!" the Exceed exclaimed. "There'll be fish and everything!"

Lucy laughed, conspicuously slipping the money back into Natsu's pockets without him noticing. "Sounds good, Happy. We'll stop at one of those sushi stands."

Happy fairly swooned at the thought of fresh, raw fish and did happy circles in the air with his wings flapping lazily.

It was only then that Natsu noticed they had passed the shop where Lucy was supposed to buy the jewelry for herself. "Oi, Lucy, you didn't buy it!"

Midnight frowned deeply, his face etched in disgust. How could such an idiot like this boy have bested him?

Lucy waved her hands, placating. "We're going on a mission tomorrow. I should have enough for it then."

Natsu still looked uncertain but shrugged in the end. "Alright. Whatever you say."

The blonde smiled affectionately and was immediately onto to the next shop, inspecting the display case and perusing prices. She was completely oblivious to the hard gaze boring down on her from across the street and for a moment, Midnight rashly wanted to scare her senseless with a terrifying illusion only she could see. It would be satisfying enough to at least wipe that smile off her face. Eventually, she would never smile again.

The urge passed quickly as he swore to himself he would terrorize her plenty once she was in his clutches. Patience, he reminded himself, patience—even as the need for vengeance roared within him.

After a while, they stopped at a takoyaki stand, bought dinner, and sat down at some nearby picnic tables. They chattered and bantered familiarly and the sight made his stomach churn, both with disgust and a twisted anticipation of watching it all fall apart.

When Natsu walked Lucy back to her home that night, he knew that was night he would strike. One week had given him enough information to topple down and destroy her peaceful, happy existence—but more importantly, he was unwilling to wait any longer. Watching them go about their days so peacefully constantly twisted the knife of defeat in his stomach and he wasn't going to let that continue any longer than it had to.

After Natsu had dropped her off and was a fairly good distance away, Midnight hopped onto the ledge of her window, which had been left open to allow the cool breeze to naturally air condition her apartment. Lifting it enough to enter, he entered the small home to hear the shower running in the bathroom to his left. Her door was closed and it would allow him enough time to find a place to wait for her to fall asleep.

In the end, he simply hid in the shadows, still maintaining his concealment spell. If she sensed anything it would ruin one of the more satisfying part of his plan, but he wasn't particularly worried. There were plenty of ways to coerce her into acting of her own free will to destroy her bonds with the guild.

When she exited the bathroom wearing only a skimpy towel and began to rifle through her closet for her pajamas, he could have laughed at the success of his spell. She had no idea he was there and it was satisfying that he would be able to tell her that he had seen her at her most vulnerable. She would no doubt be humiliated and he planned to exploit that fully.

However, when the towel dropped for her to dress, he found himself watching her a little _too_ closely. Her body was close to perfect: large but perky breasts, a thin waist that gently sloped into full hips, and slender, very_ long_ legs. She had a few very small scars from her battles, but other than that her body was incredibly pleasing.

He wondered darkly how often she used her body to her advantage. She had undoubtedly had many boyfriends and it would be unsurprising if she had given herself to every single one. For some odd reason that he couldn't identify, the thought was unwelcome, but he decided that it would be one more fact to ruin her with.

She was probably incredibly vain about her body as well. He would relish cutting down that arrogance until she hated everything about herself.

Midnight was irritated when she didn't go to bed right away; she sat down at the desk at the foot of her bed and pulled out a thick stack of papers, picked up a pen, and began to write. Time went slowly as she sat there, writing, and he was growing impatient. Why wouldn't she just _go to sleep?_

At long last, she put the pen down, stretched, and went to her bed after shutting off the lights. He waited a while longer before approaching the desk, curious as to what she had been doing that had wasted so much of his time.

He scoffed upon discovering it was a novel—he glowered when, after reading a few pages, he found it was about her 'adventure' with the Infinity Clock. It was a good fifty pages long and he would admit it wasn't terribly written from what he'd seen.

All the more reason to get rid of it. It was handwritten—there most likely wasn't a backup.

But he wouldn't do that until she was watching her hard work be destroyed with her own eyes.

He folded the pages carelessly—it didn't matter whether they were well-preserved because they would cease to exist soon enough—and tucked them into a pocket in his white, furry coat.

Then, finally, he approached her sleeping form.

As his shadow fell over her features, paled by the moon, he already felt as though he could taste victory. He let the concealment spell drop and then, using thin threads of magic, invaded her mind and consequently, her dreams.

She was dreaming about her novel being published at last and the guild was throwing her a celebratory party. In the dream, Natsu was her boyfriend and stood by her side supportively as Erza congratulated her and Gray grudgingly admitted that the story was well-written. Her blue-haired female friend—he hadn't known her name before, but the dream told him it was Levy—was cutting the cake Erza had ordered from the nearby bakery and serving everyone. It was clearly a very pleasant dream.

Smirking victoriously, he began to twist it irrevocably.

Lisanna appeared in the dream with carefully molded magic and Natsu immediately left Lucy's side to talk to her. Lucy watched helplessly as Natsu shamelessly kissed the girl in front of the entire guild—and then the speculation started, playing off insecurities Lucy already had.

Erza commented that it was only right that Lisanna be with Natsu because she'd known him longer. Lisanna's older sister, Mirajane, cruelly said that Lucy had never deserved him in the first place. Gray congratulated Natsu on getting a 'decent girl at last' and 'who knew why he was wasting his time with Lucy, but at least he'd come to his senses.'

In the end, he had every guild member, even those who hadn't been present in the dream initially, support the change of Natsu's affections and made her watch uselessly as they cut her down over and over again—and most of them spoke in kind but patronizing tones, telling her she should have never expected it to really last when Lisanna was there.

It was when Natsu started telling Lucy why they never would have worked that Lucy began to stir from the dream, her despair overwhelming his control over her consciousness and ability to keep her asleep. Immediately, he released the tendrils of magic and backed away from the bed, concealing himself once more.

She awoke with tears on her cheeks and began to cry quietly at the recollection of the dream. He watched with utmost satisfaction as she sobbed softly into her pillow, the sounds beautiful music to his ears. Eventually she cried herself back to sleep and he threaded the magic back into her dreamless sleep, instilling a deep sense of hatred for Lisanna, using her already-raw feelings over the dream to enhance what was already there to an extent.

When morning came, he had gained enough power over her mind to know that he would successfully be able to control her when the time came. It had been more taxing than usual because when he'd done it with the others, it had been gradual and over time, but with Lucy he had forced it to happen all in one night.

It would not last for long, but it would be enough.

He was tired and probably needed to rest for a while, but this would bring about the fruition of his plan and he was willing to lose a little sleep over it.

Slipping out her front door as she prepared for the day, he was glad to know that his patience would pay off in the sweetest of ways.

He only had to wait a little longer.

* * *

Lucy found that when she awoke that morning, something was very…off about her emotions.

She felt furious for absolutely no reason and her fists, rarely used, itched to take out that anger on someone. The rage within her was burning hot and she had never felt this way before—it wasn't in her nature to be truly angry. Nonetheless, she felt it and in all honesty, it frightened her.

Clenching her teeth tightly to try to maintain control over this uncontrollable emotion, she forced herself to dress for the day. Something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but this anger…it wasn't right. Something had happened to her—but what? Nothing had happened over night, of that she was sure; she'd showered, fallen asleep as always, and now she awoke and felt so angry…

Quite abruptly the memory of her dream came to the forefront of her mind. She was already on her way to the guild because she knew that she was meeting Natsu there to go on a mission for rent, but the recollection stopped her in her tracks.

It had started off so well, the dream. She had been with Natsu and her book had been published—everyone was celebrating—and then _Lisanna_ showed up.

The simple thought of the name in her mind made the rage within her flare wildly even though she had never felt this way about the silver-haired girl before, even though they both wanted Natsu for their own. However, the flame of anger refused to be quelled.

She forced her mind to quiet, including the thoughts of Lisanna that bordered on murderous and the dream in its entirety, but she couldn't make the anger go away. Forcing one foot in front of the other, she pushed on to the guild.

Suddenly, she inexplicably heard a semi-familiar voice laughing in her mind. She couldn't quite place it, but she knew this person, whoever it was laughing in her mind. The voice was clearly masculine but for the life of her she couldn't place who it was—but she knew now that this anger she felt was somehow connected to him. The intuition she had was inexplicable, but as though it had been whispered in her ear, she knew that something terrible was about to come.

The laughter faded out and she sped up her pace, fighting the burning rage to hurt someone with every step. She needed to talk to Master. Surely he would at least have an idea of how to help her, even if he didn't know what was going on. She felt that she was truly liable to try and injure someone and the guild needed to be warned. She wasn't herself and even though something told her that she should try to avoid her friends at the moment, she suddenly found that she couldn't stop walking even if she wanted to.

When she arrived at the guild's front door and shoved it open angrily, she became aware that she was no longer controlling her body.

"Where's Lisanna?" she demanded loudly to the room, her voice hot with rage.

She hadn't ever made the decision to speak—in fact, she'd been hoping to pull Makarov aside as inconspicuously as possible. She didn't want anybody to see her like this.

The guild members present had been laughing and talking merrily until her furious shout at them and then the room went quiet. Curious eyes watched her, Mirajane and Elfman looking at her especially strangely. Of course—she was angry and apparently after their little sister.

"Is everything alright, Lucy?" Levy asked tentatively, approaching her slowly as though she was a rabid animal. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay!" Lucy shouted at her and she could feel her facial features contort into a hideous scowl that made Levy back up a few feet. "Where is that _bitch?_"

Within the confines of her mind, Lucy was screaming at herself to stop this outrageousness—she would _never _speak to her friends this way! Surely they knew that this was totally out of character for her?

But seeing the gentle Mirajane's suddenly hard look and Elfman's rigid posture as he stood up to defend his sister, she had a sinking feeling that a very important line had just been irrevocably crossed.

At this point, Makarov had put down his ale and was looking hard at her. "Lucy, what is the meaning of this? Calm down!"

"Shut up, you old coot!" she hissed. The older man recoiled as though he'd been bitten and then his expression became wary. "Just tell me where Lisanna is!"

Like a snake whispering in her ear, the male voice from before whispered to her _exactly_ what was going to happen when she found Lisanna. He told her that she had no control and that after her next actions, she would no longer have Fairy Tail to call home—Makarov would never allow a guild member to stay who had harmed another one of his children.

Lucy knew it was true after what had happened with Laxus, Makarov's own grandson. While she had been with Fairy Tail for a long while now, she was still one of the newer members. They loved and cared for her, but if Makarov was willing to banish his own blood for the sake of the guild's safety, she would not be an exception.

Within the confines of her mind, she was screaming, begging for this voice to make it stop.

She received only cold, malicious laughter in response.

Just then, the worst happened. The guild had gone quiet and she was panting, seething her rage, when Lisanna suddenly came out from behind the bar.

"Lucy?" she asked quietly. "What's wrong? Are you…angry at me? What did I do?"

"You stole him, that's what!" Lucy growled at her, stalking towards the other woman with her fists bared. "You just had to come back, didn't you? You ruined everything!"

At this point, Lisanna's siblings were unwilling to stand by. "Oi, Lucy! Stop talking to her like-"

"Shut up!" she roared at Elfman, turning towards him viciously. "Aren't you just so glad to have your _precious _sister back? What you don't know is she's a conniving little thief!"

"What…what are you talking about?" Lisanna asked as she approached Lucy, slowly and much like Levy had—as though Lucy was something dangerous. "Lucy, I don't-"

"Bitch! I don't want to hear it!"

She lunged at her, fist raised.

Lucy screamed within her own mind.

Her fist collided with Lisanna's cheek with surprising force and the other girl went tumbling down.

Elfman roared with rage.

Mirajane screamed.

The room erupted in angry words.

She unwillingly straddled the prone Lisanna and her fists continued to beat on her. She was not fighting back, but her tears spoke of her pain.

She was being pulled off her unwitting opponent and restrained, but she continued to struggle against Macao and Wakaba, gnashing her teeth and jerking at her wrists.

"That is enough!" Makarov bellowed, and Lucy's struggling stopped. She reared back from Lisanna's bruising, sobbing form, but still bared her teeth angrily at her.

Lucy had never known she could hit like that—but then again, it hadn't really been her attacking. She had felt dark, malicious magic running through her veins as she hit the silver-haired girl and it had clearly enhanced her ability to do damage. Lucy herself would never have been able to split Lisanna's lip like that with her own strength. Guilt overwhelmed her and she felt the anger fade, but her body was still not her own.

"Lucy, come with me," said an irate Makarov. Wendy approached Lisanna and began to heal her, but the young girl's eyes were watching Lucy tearfully. She clearly didn't understand what had come into her teammate.

Quite frankly, Lucy didn't either—all she knew was that she hadn't done it of her own free will. She would never have done that, ever, if she had had control over her body.

Macao and Wakaba released her and she followed Makarov, but her posture spoke of complete lack of regret or guilt. She walked stiffly as though she was still angry, but inside her mind Lucy was only crying helplessly.

Makarov was pulling her to the side in an act of pity so that at least the banishing wouldn't happen in front of everyone. However, it was clear that that was going to happen.

Once in a private room in the back of the guild, Makarov turned to her.

"I'm sure there's an explanation for this…outburst," he said, and it wasn't so much of a question as it was a demand.

Lucy wanted to plead with him, to beg for him to understand that this hadn't been her doing, but she only scoff and turned her head to the side obstinately. "She deserved it."

"Lucy…" he growled warningly.

"I don't have to justify my actions to you," she spat at him.

She screamed inside herself, fighting against whatever power was controlling her. She threw her consciousness from side to side within her mind but there was nothing she could do against whoever was in charge.

Makarov looked at her hard. "Lucy, you know what happened with Laxus. Why would you hurt my children—your family—in this way?" His voice softened. "I want to understand."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're too soft. She deserved it and that's all I'm going to say. I don't regret this in the slightest, so just get this over with."

Makarov sighed and looked almost mournful and the expression on his face made Lucy sob helplessly within her mind. He didn't want to do this even though according to the rules of Fairy Tail, she completely deserved it—he was angry at her, undoubtedly, and still he didn't want to do this.

Her heart was shattering piece by piece, slowly and painfully.

"Lucy Heartfilia," the guildmaster began, and Lucy was now begging the voice to make this stop, to give her back control so she could explain herself. Silence was her only answer, but she could feel her controller's smug attitude from whatever connection was allowing him this power over her. "Due to your actions against another guild member, it is my duty to remove your emblem and have you leave Fairy Tail permanently."

She fought against the way she prissily stuck her right hand as though she couldn't wait to be rid of the mark. To her utmost surprise, her arm trembled slightly as she did so, as though she actually had a chance to stop her body from doing this.

With all her might she tried to force her lips to move and she could feel them slightly curling as though to speak, but no sound came from her mouth.

Makarov placed his hand over hers and then, with a quick swipe, the stamp was gone. However, she could feel her controller's power waning now and she tried even harder than before to fight her own actions, invigorated by the hope that she could possibly rectify this horrific mess she'd made.

The man on the other side of the connection also knew that his power over her was waning, however, because wordlessly he forced her to march out of the room—but not before she was able to give Makarov a pleading look by her own will.

A tear forced its way down her cheek and then she had left the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

To Lucy's horror, Natsu had just arrived as she was leaving.

"Oi, Lucy! Sorry I'm late-"

Without speaking—perhaps that was too much effort for her controller to manage at this point?—Lucy raised her right hand in front of Natsu to show him the lack of her Fairy Tail emblem.

He was stunned, but she simply kept walking—and then she was forced into a run. She heard Natsu calling for her, following her, and she ran faster.

Then Natsu's calls faded and she had reached her apartment.

By the time she had shut and locked the door behind her, she had regained control of her body. Falling to her knees, she began to sob desperately.

Two booted feet, covered partially by white pants, appeared in front of her. She knew instinctively that whoever was standing in front of her was the person who had just ruined her life.

"Why?" she sobbed. "Why?"

"It's what you deserve," he told her emotionlessly—and then Lucy was finally able to place the voice.

But…no! He was supposed to be in prison!

With wide eyes, she finally looked up at the man in front of her.

Midnight…the one who'd tried to sacrifice her to the Infinity Clock!

"No," she ground out angrily. "I knew I wasn't in control!" Forcing herself to her feet, she faced him down. "I knew it wasn't me and when I tell them, they'll listen to me!"

He eyed her down smugly. "Do you really think so? What proof do you have?"

She didn't hesitate to refute him. "They know I wouldn't do that! I would never hurt Lisanna!"

"Even though you don't like her? Even though it's painfully obvious the way you feel about Natsu?" He was smirking triumphantly, clearly enjoying her rebuttals.

What did he have against her, anyway? He had been trying to kill her—obviously Fairy Tail was going to fight back against him!

She faltered for a moment before steadying herself again. "No matter what, I'll find a way. I'm not going to let you do this—I don't know what you have against me, but whatever it is isn't going to stop me from getting my family back!"

At this, he frowned, but she was already turning away hastily to leave. Somewhere within her she knew turning her back on her enemy wasn't a good idea, but she _had_ to get back to Fairy Tail before he could somehow regain control over her. She _had_ to fix this!

Like a viper, his hand shot out and caught her shoulder, twisting her around painfully before he slammed up against the door. The force of it knocked the wind out of her lungs and she gasped weakly, fear starting to fill her.

"I'm not finished with you," he hissed, and the very real rage she saw in his eyes terrified her. But she couldn't let him win—she couldn't!

Just as she was reaching for her keys, because even though she doubted she could best him in a battle, if she could get him to use his magic certainly someone would notice it, he knocked her to the floor violently. Crying out and dropping her keys, she collided with the tile of her kitchen.

When she wasn't knocked unconscious by the fall, he knelt down and hit her head again. This time, she felt the world darken, and with a final, pained gasp, her vision went black.

* * *

_Yes, I know - Lucy would never do those things in canon. She was BEING CONTROLLED by my butchering of Midnight's supposed ability to control people through dreams. I just wanted to make that clear. LUCY WAS NOT CONTROL._

_On top of that, the guild isn't taking Lucy's extreme out of character-ness lying down. Makarov acted as he had to as guild master, but if this story is continued, this isn't the last we'll see of Fairy Tail. I don't believe they would let one of their members go that easily, so...yeah. There will be more of them later._

_Seriously. Laxus fucked up. I don't think what Lucy did was as bad as trying to usurp Makarov through brute force and threatening the girls' lives. Please take that into consideration!_

_Cheers (and review please)!_

_Of Healing Love_


	2. The Beginning

**The Beginning**

Even though every guild member had testified that what had happened with Lucy and Lisanna was wholly truthful—and even though Lisanna still had bruises from what had happened—Natsu Dragneel refused to believe that Lucy would do something like this. He didn't know what had come over her, but he knew that the Lucy _he_ knew would never harm a guild member the way she had.

It was not like her and he suspected that somewhere along the line there had been foul play.

Natsu knew that many believed him to be oblivious and reckless, and indeed he was both those things, but he wasn't stupid. He actually liked to think his natural intuition brought him a long way and after being raised by the dragon Igneel, could anyone really expect him to _really_ be that naïve?

Perhaps, perhaps not, but that wasn't the point. Lucy hadn't done this—_something_ was off about this whole situation and he _would_ fix it. Lucy was his partner and there was no way he was going to let her banishment just happen and not doing anything about it. That wasn't what friends did.

Which was why he was currently shouting at Makarov in front of the entire guild.

"Lucy would never do something like that!" he protested. "She loves all of us—we're her family! Even if she _was_ angry at Lisanna, she would never hurt her like that!"

Natsu cared about the silver-haired girl, he really did, but in his mind, Lisanna wasn't the one who had been truly wronged. _Lucy wouldn't do this_.

"Natsu, I saw it with my own eyes," Makarov told him, sounding weary. "Lucy attacked a guild member. We don't have many rules here, but that one is one that I can't dispute. This is the consequence of her actions."

Surprisingly, Lisanna spoke up at this point. "Master…I really think there was something wrong with her. Lucy would never do this to me—we're friends!" Even as she spoke, she winced at the pulling of her mouth on her bloodied lip. Her words were slightly slurred from the damage she'd taken to her face.

However, it wasn't exactly a surprise that Mirajane and Elfman were completely silent on the matter. Whether or not they thought Lucy should be banished from the guild, she had still attacked their little sister. It was unforgiveable no matter what—it would take some seriously extenuating circumstances for Lucy to get their understanding on the matter.

"See! Even Lisanna knows there was something wrong with her! We just need to go talk to her and get her to explain-"

"Let her calm down," came Erza's voice suddenly. Apparently she had arrived just in time to overhear what had happened. "She will need some time to collect herself and think on what she's done. We can approach her tomorrow because I, too, believe that something sounds off about this situation, but it is best to give her some time right now."

Natsu felt somewhere deep within him that giving Lucy time _wasn't_ what was needed at that point, but he decided he would concede at this point. _His_ Lucy would be taking leaving Fairy Tail hard—she adored the guild and had wanted to join it so badly that this would be very difficult for her, even if he knew that she wouldn't hurt any of her family members of her own accord.

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"One day. One day and then we're going to get to the bottom of this," he promised all of them.

This time, even Mirajane and Elfman were in agreement.

Meanwhile, Lucy was unconscious and hanging limply over the shoulder of her captor as he took her far outside Magnolia to where they wouldn't be found.

It couldn't have gone more perfectly except that he'd been angered that Lucy didn't even _realize_ what she had done to wrong him, to deserve what had just happened. Was she as stupid as the Natsu boy? Surely she wasn't if she had been able to use Real Nightmare against him…but Fairy Tail had always been one for surprises.

Frowning, he continued his path towards the train station that would take them to the far end of Fiore. If he used his invisibility spell to conceal both himself and Lucy, they would easily be able to hop a train to the destination he had in mind.

He planned to go to the old Oracion Seis's headquarters from before even Nirvana. Brain had abandoned it long ago, but he'd been to it after he escaped the Council's clutches to see if it was still habitable. It turned out that it was, if not very dusty and a little run down from neglect. It had been almost eight years now, after all. Midnight had no intention of fixing the place up, per se, but it was secure enough for his purposes. Lucy would be his prisoner because he couldn't expect her to not try to escape and the base was suitable enough for that. Once he'd broken her down enough, he might let her go, if only to watch her stumble through her misery and try to find a new reason to live. Without her family or her friends to guide her, she was nothing. Living and breathing her worthlessness would be a better revenge than death.

The train was about to leave, heading northwest towards Clover Town. The Oracion Seis's old base was just west of Clover Town, having been strategically placed to be close to where Nirvana was. It was little more than a large militaristic house, but if he remembered correctly there were a few windowless rooms that he could lock from the outside. When he'd checked there was backup food storage there, but worse came to worse he could always venture into town. The Council was unlikely to check Clover Town for his location; it was small compared to the other places on the map and no one who was not affiliated with the Oracion Seis would know anything about the old headquarters. Indeed, it had remained untouched even by bandits and thieves over the last seven years.

The train ride would be a rather long one, probably two or three hours, so he slipped onto the train through the open doors without anyone noticing before finding an empty private booth in the back of the train car. The booth had walls and sliding doors, so if he locked them no one would be able to disturb them.

Still concealed by his spell, he carefully made his way past the paying travelers and was lucky enough not to bump into anyone. It was rather difficult with Lucy over his shoulder, but he wasn't too concerned if she was injured a little. He only cared that she didn't give away their illegal passage on the train.

He reached the cabin without incident and covertly entered the cabin before promptly locking the doors and dropping Lucy carelessly on the seat across from him. Once no longer in contact with his body she reappeared to the world and she let out a soft grunt when she landed hard on the red, not-so-plush train seat.

Midnight took his own seat before observing her unconscious form. Unwillingly, the image of her naked form flashed through his mind and he scowled. It was completely unfair that such a miserable, hateful young woman had to be so beautiful. He found himself attracted to her body and it revolted him—but then again, she'd probably shared it with so many other men, what difference would there be if she were to share it with him?

A malicious smirk crossed his face. A whore like her most likely wouldn't even be bothered by the fact that she'd slept with someone she hated and who had tried to erase her from existence. In fact, she would probably _enjoy it_, the slut.

Suddenly annoyed with her, he kicked her thigh hard with his heel. There was no response but it made him feel a little bit better all the same.

Soon the train tooted its horn and the engine began to rumble, signifying that it was leaving the station. Lucy stirred at the loud sound but didn't fully regain consciousness. He was looking forward to the moment when she woke up and realized that she would never see her friends again. What would be even more satisfying would be telling her that they wouldn't even _miss her_.

To his disappointment, it was an hour into the ride before her eyes fluttered and she woke up. The incredibly confused expression on her face as she blinked and tried to place where she was in her mind was amusing and he chuckled.

"You've been kidnapped," he told her blithely when her brow furrowed. She still hadn't noticed him until he spoke.

Immediately, she was sitting up and looking around until her eyes focused on him.

"You! What's going on? Where are you taking me?" she demanded. "What do you _want _with me?" The last sentence was slightly hysterical.

"So many questions," he mocked. "Too bad you don't deserve any answers."

"I think I do!" she retorted hotly. She reached for her zodiac keys futilely before realizing that they weren't there. She looked back up at him to see him dangling them in front of her face.

"Looking for something?" he taunted. Lucy immediately made to snatch them from him, but he jerked them away from her reach.

"Give them back!" she begged. Upon hearing her desperation, his eyes widened with malicious enjoyment and he smirked. "Please…!"

"You won't be needing them anymore," he said, standing. She stood along with him, trying to grab them, but he kept them high above her head using his height advantage. The cabin was small and with both of them standing they were nearly touching, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Please!" she repeated, but he only eyed her cruelly and with his free hand he forced open the window. Wind gushed into the booth, whipping both their hair wildly with how fast the train was traveling.

Her eyes widened comically when she realized what he was about to do as he stuck his hand out the window, letting the keys dangle in the wind.

"_NO!_"

He smirked at her cruelly.

She lunged at him in an attempt to save her keys.

Midnight released them just as she sent them both crashing into the seat behind him.

She screamed, horrified, and was immediately at the window, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"No…" she breathed. "No, no, no! NO!"

Lucy immediately made for the locked door—she was obviously going to demand they stop the train—but he grabbed her shoulders and tossed her back into her seat. Tears poured from her eyes relentlessly.

"How could you?" she screamed. "How could you do that?"

"Be quiet," he hissed at her.

"No!" She stood with every intention of forcing her way past him. "No! I have to get my friends back!"

At first he thought she was talking about the pathetic guild, but then he realized she was talking about the celestial spirits.

He began to laugh and she glared at him, tears still trickling down her face.

"You think they're your friends?" he cackled. "You must be _desperately lonely_ if you call those things your friends."

"You wouldn't know if a friend if one slapped you in the face," she spat at him. "Let me by!"

He sobered. "No. Sit back down and be quiet or I'll _make_ you shut up. Your choice."

"You're going to have to take me kicking and screaming! I'm getting them back!" She tried to push by him but he gripped her shoulders and shoved her against the wall. They were making an awful lot of noise, but since they were in the back of a mostly vacant train car, he wasn't too worried about outside interference.

"As you wish,_ hime_," he mocked, and then forced his lips against hers.

She was shocked into silence at the intimate contact, her eyes going wide. He didn't close his eyes while kissing her, rather watching her reaction with cruel fascination.

After a moment of shock she shoved at him and he chuckled into her mouth, grabbing her wrists and slamming them onto the wall above her head. She began to thrash and then let out a scream, which he took advantage of by slipping his tongue into her mouth, thereby muffling her noises entirely. Her mouth was hot and silky even as she struggled against him and he was thoroughly enjoying the kiss.

He found himself pressing himself into her body harshly and it served to stop her from struggling, even if she didn't give up.

Eventually she gave up fighting, tears streaming down her cheeks. When she finally went still, he released her and she slumped down to the floor underneath the window. She cried softly but all he cared about was that she was still and quiet. Given that she was both at the moment, he found it prudent to leave her alone.

Wordlessly, he sat back down and watched her pitiful sobbing form with interest.

This was going to be an immensely satisfying endeavor.

Her first kiss…had been with Midnight.

Her enemy.

The man who'd gotten her banished from Fairy Tail.

The man who'd tried to sacrifice her, erase her from existence.

A man who felt nothing but spite and hatred for her.

He had been the first person she'd ever done anything physically romantic with.

What was worse was that she'd been hoping to save it for Natsu.

Call her a romantic, but Lucy had wanted her 'firsts' to be with someone she cared about. Midnight was not that in the slightest—he'd gotten her kicked out of Fairy Tail. And for what? For trying to stay alive and not be erased from existence? How was that even _fair_? How on earth was he justifying this so-called revenge? He would have done the same thing in her position!

And to top it all off, she would probably never find her keys ever again. They were lost in the dust somewhere by the train tracks, likely to be stolen by bandits and auctioned off to the highest bidder. She'd never see any of them again…

Her tears intensified and she realized that while she had never had any particularly hard feelings for Midnight before—yes, he'd tried to kill her, but even then she'd never truly held a grudge for that—she now felt a deep disgust for him. Lucy didn't think she was capable of hating anybody, but her feelings towards Midnight came damn near close to that.

The only reason she didn't let in envelope her was because she didn't want to become like him, dark and twisted and miserable. In a sick sort of way, she actually felt sorry for him. His life must be so terrible for him to need to lash out at someone for trying to stay alive.

Eventually her tears stopped and she just sat on the ground dejectedly. She wasn't sure how many hours passed like that, but soon the train was rolling into the station and Midnight stood up before waving something in front of her face.

"You'll be quiet," he said calmly and she glared up at him.

"If you think I'm going to just come along nicely-"

He waved the object in his hand pointedly and Lucy noticed it was a thick stack of papers. Her brow furrowed before she was reeling back in shock, her hands covering her mouth and her eyes going wide.

He had her manuscript, something she had truly poured her heart and soul into.

"You want it to stay in one piece? Then you'll cooperate."

Absently she nodded and got to her feet, but she was now concerned about more than just her novel. If he had that, then he'd been inside her room and had seen her writing it because otherwise she kept the papers hidden somewhere that Natsu or Gray couldn't find them.

Her stomach dropped and she felt queasy. How long had Midnight been watching her?

As they got off the train with only a few strange glances, Lucy decided she would rather not know how much her privacy had been invaded. Hopefully he hadn't seen anything else not meant for his eyes…

They walked out of the train station, Lucy trailing several steps behind the entire time, and then away from the city. She wasn't sure where he was taking her but she figured that without her keys she was defenseless. In fact, without her keys she couldn't very well call herself a mage, could she?

Tears of disbelief at his cruelty filled her eyes and she kept her head down to hide the fact that she was crying. She got the sense that Midnight enjoyed her tears, so she tried to stay as quiet as possible so he wouldn't get the satisfaction of hearing her misery.

However, because her head was down as she was focusing on other things, she was not paying attention to her surroundings like she should have as a captive. Suddenly, Midnight stopped and she nearly ran into him, only saving herself from a collision by stumbling backwards awkwardly.

She lifted her eyes and found herself in front of a large stone house that was gray and bleak. The roofing looked a little dilapidated and the front door was a little worse for wear, but all in all it appeared to be fully functional.

Lucy dared a glance in Midnight's direction. He smirked at her as he pushed open the door and beckoned her inside. She reluctantly followed, looking with distaste at the dusty interior.

"Welcome home."


	3. A New Home

_Sorry for the late update! Thanks to AM, I remembered to update this when I could!_

* * *

**A New Home**

To Midnight's surprise, Lucy had given him little fuss when it led her to her new room, which was more of a prison cell than anything else. He supposed it was because she valued her _precious_ manuscript that she was obeying him without question and it disgusted him that she was still holding onto hope that, what? Someday she would be able to publish it? Not while he still lived—he wouldn't allow an account of his defeat to be publicized and distributed to the public. When the time came, the manuscript was going to burn. He just hadn't decided when yet.

He made himself comfortable in his old room, which was conveniently across the hall from hers. He had locked her in and he knew that there was nothing to keep her company there except her own dreary thoughts, which was exactly how he wanted it. If she had nothing to think about except her loss it would be easier to break her.

Meanwhile, he had to plan how he was going to release the rest of the Oracion Seis from the Council's prison. The Infinity Clock might be unattainable now, but that didn't mean there weren't other ways to bring darkness to the world, as was his father's want. Even if there was no hope of a future by his father's side, he could still try to carry out Brain's will. It was the least he could do for him after rescuing him from the Tower of Heaven and making him strong.

He sat on his flying carpet, which had of its own volition returned to their guild's base after the loss of Nirvana, and began to contemplate.

* * *

"She's…not here?"

Lucy's apartment was completely empty.

Natsu stood in the doorway to Lucy's bedroom with Gray and Erza not far behind him. The rest of the home was totally empty, complete with the lights off. Lucy's bed was unmade but cool, so it hadn't been slept in recently.

Which was strange because they'd come here first thing in the morning at Natsu's dogged insistence. Lucy wasn't a morning person and would normally still be asleep when it was only barely past sunrise.

"Maybe she went for a walk?" Gray speculated. It was a weak postulation at best.

"Her front door was unlocked, though," Natsu replied, staring at his blonde friend's bed as though Lucy would magically appear if he focused hard enough.

Erza pushed past Gray and began to look around the room while Natsu continued to stare at the messy bed as though in a daze and Gray went on throwing out random suggestions as to where their ex-guildmate might have gone.

Natsu had a very bad feeling about this. The air here felt cold, like it hadn't been inhabited at all in the past day or so. The kitchen was clear of dishes and other than the bed that had not be tidied up, everything seemed to be perfectly in place. It did not explain the feeling of trepidation that the empty apartment was giving him.

"Her manuscript's gone," Erza suddenly said, her voice flat.

Sure enough, the drawer where Lucy had hidden her manuscript from prying eyes was completely empty. Natsu stared at it, a growing horror building in him.

"I think it's safe to say Lucy left," the redhead went on, hands on her hips as she pondered the issue. "She would never go anywhere without her manuscript."

Gray was silent at the disturbing notion that their teammate and friend had left without so much as a single word of warning, much less a goodbye. Natsu, on the other hand, did not buy this absurd thought for a single moment, striding to Lucy's closet and flinging the sliding door open.

"She didn't leave," he said triumphantly. "All her clothing's here. Her suitcase, too."

Erza turned and followed Natsu to the closet. Sure enough, Lucy's suitcase from when she'd first come to Magnolia was still there, devoid of clothing upon inspection. It had even gathered a bit of dust for disuse, which meant that Lucy hadn't even thought about leaving after being banished from the guild.

"If Lucy did not leave of her own accord, but she is also not here, then I believe it's safe to say that something has happened to her in which she would have had to leave on very short notice." Erza's voice was deceptively calm.

"Who knows?" Gray argued. "She might have just stepped out for a moment."

"That's what it seems like, but they why would her manuscript be missing?"

The raven-haired man, who was now unsurprisingly shirtless, shrugged. "Maybe she went to somewhere to write for a change of scenery? Our best bet is to just wait for her to come back. It wouldn't be like Lucy to just up and leave, no matter how angry she was at Lisanna or whatever happened with the guild."

Erza nodded. "I agree. We will wait for her return and then she can explain everything. Her behavior yesterday seems strange to me. I believe we would have noticed something different about her had this truly been building up over time."

All the while, Natsu was silent. He was listening to his teammates' thoughts and speculations and while all of them sounded logical enough, something didn't sit right with him.

First, out of nowhere Lucy had attacked Lisanna, which had resulted in her banishment from the guild. She offered no reasoning to Makarov why she had behaved that way, and Makarov had admitted later that it had seemed almost like she wanted to be rid of her guild stamp—which was one of the most out of character things that Lucy could possibly do. Natsu knew; he had been the one to bring Lucy to Fairy Tail in the first place and the light in her eyes when she had gotten her stamp and the joy she had practically glowed with upon meeting everyone and beginning to call Fairy Tail home had been no lie. He remembered how she hadn't said anything to him when he had passed her yesterday, only waving her stamp-less hand in his face and practically running away from him. If he recalled correctly, her footsteps had seemed almost hesitant, even though she was moving as fast as she could to her apartment.

And now Lucy was gone, having only taken her manuscript with her. His nose told him that she hadn't been here for almost twenty-four hours, but it was possible that Lucy hadn't wanted to come home after the life-changing event of losing her place at Fairy Tail.

Even though his instincts were screaming with worry and he knew something was wrong, very wrong, for once Natsu decided that perhaps he would listen to Erza's conservative suggestion to wait for Lucy's return and hope for the best.

Seating himself at her dinner table and resting his chin on his hand while Erza and Gray sat down on the nearby couch, Natsu couldn't help but feel like he was doing the exact opposite of what he should be doing right now. Minutes ticked by.

Abruptly, Natsu stood up. He couldn't go against his instincts like this. "You guys stay here. I'm going to see if I can sniff her out."

Erza acknowledged him with a nod and Gray stood as well. "I'll help."

"You won't be of much use out there," Erza told him. "Stay here and wait with me."

Begrudgingly, Gray acquiesced, and Natsu left without another word. He'd find Lucy.

He always did.

* * *

An hour after going to the room Midnight had led her to and stewing in her thoughts, Lucy finally decided that bringing herself down with a negative attitude wasn't going to help anything. However, when she tried the doorknob to let herself out, she found that it was locked.

It shouldn't have been surprising, but it was. It hadn't really registered with her that she was a captive until she realized that she was locked in her room. Maybe it was because this entire ordeal felt totally surreal, like a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. As she tried the doorknob and it continued to hold, stopping her from escaping, Lucy realized that this wasn't a dream and she had somehow allowed herself to be incarcerated and was at the whims of a man who wanted nothing more than to make her suffer.

And she still didn't entirely understand why. How could he be angry at her for trying to stay alive? He had to be deluded if he thought she would willingly die—no, not _die,_ but be erased from existence altogether! Her friends wouldn't even remember her ever having existed!

Who would willingly allow that to happen to themselves? Not her, at least. But now it had attracted Midnight's fury and she really couldn't understand why he would feel this way. She understood that he might be angry that they had stopped him from _destroying the world_, but why pin it all on her?

Better yet, what was up with this fascination for bringing darkness and pain on everyone and everything?

Slumping down onto her hard bed, which was little more than a dusty, uncomfortable cot, Lucy tried to puzzle out Midnight's behavior as clinically as she could.

The first time they had met had been in the Nirvana episode. At that time, Brain had been the leader of the Oracion Seis and the dark guild's goal had been to switch darkness and light within people to create discord and cause guilds to turn on each other, slaughtering their friends and allow the Oracion Seis world domination as everyone destroyed the people closest to them. That horrible plan had been foiled by the guilds altogether, although Lucy inwardly knew that it would be have been impossible without Natsu defeating Zero.

The entire dark guild, along with Jellal, had been caught by the Council and imprisoned for seven years during their endeavors on Tenrou Island with Acnologia. Then, the missing members of Fairy Tail had returned, Michelle Lobster had found her as her 'cousin' and the Infinity Clock incident had happened.

Midnight's use for her was to activate the Infinity Clock, erasing her from existence and memory in order to control the insidious contraption and to create a world where nightmares were real. Natsu had battled him directly and won again, resulting in the destruction of the Clock and her freedom. If Midnight held any true grudge for his defeat, wouldn't he blame Natsu? Lucy hadn't been the one to stop him from controlling the Infinity Clock—it was Fairy Tail's combined efforts and ultimately, Natsu winning their battle. If Midnight had not been defeated, he would have maintained control.

Lucy felt as though she was missing something, but she pushed it away in favor of her newest theory. Midnight was trying to get back at Natsu through _her_. It had been so obvious all along; no one would believe Natsu quitting the guild and whatever magic he had used to control her would probably be a lot harder to use on the dragon slayer. However, she was close to Natsu, his first teammate—and she knew she had hurt Natsu with her sudden departure. He cared for Lisanna and would surely be furious that she had hurt the silver-haired girl, whether it was of her own volition or not.

Satisfied, Lucy knew that she was going to have to talk to Midnight, try to reason with him. It was still early enough that if she traveled hard and fast enough, she might be able to recover her keys before anyone else found them. It was possible they were still within reach. She couldn't see the sun because she had no windows in her room, which only reminded her that this was her prison cell of sorts, but she knew that it would still be possible to track down her keys.

Besides, she was hungry. She hadn't even had breakfast. It seemed unlikely that Midnight would feed her—she couldn't even imagine him cooking—but maybe once she reasoned with him, he would let her eat at the very least. She wasn't sure what she was hoping to accomplish, though—what was she going to do, _apologize_ to him?

'Oh yeah, I'm sorry about ruining your dream to turn the world into darkness. Twice. Hey, you think you could let me go and get my keys? I'd like to have a chance to stop you again.'

Right. Of course.

So while that might not go over well, she might be able to convince him that Natsu definitely wasn't going to come for her after the Lisanna incident. Tears sprung to her eyes as she realized that she would have no proof that would allow her back into Fairy Tail, but at least she could get her keys. She couldn't be in Fairy Tail anyway if she didn't have the keys that proved her as a celestial mage—so keys came first. Fairy Tail could be dealt with later.

Lucy felt like bursting out into tears, but she knew that she had to approach this clinically, stay detached. Her captor seemed to derive some kind of sick enjoyment from her tears, so crying had to be done in private.

Besides, she had been in worse straits than this. She wouldn't give up.

However, all this hinged on talking to Midnight. Getting up again, she went and pounded on her door.

"Hey! Hey you! I need to talk to you!" she shouted, pounding her fist against the door as loudly as she could.

For what seemed like forever there was no response, but eventually the door was yanked open.

"Would you shut u-"

Lucy had been leaning against the door as she pounded for more strength and when the door was suddenly removed from in front of her, she fell forward.

Suddenly, she found herself in her captor's arms. She had fallen in such a way that she landed on him and his proximity had apparently caused his natural instincts to catch her.

There was a long, awkward pause before he shoved her away disgustedly and Lucy stumbled backwards, barely catching herself before she fell on her rear.

"I need to talk to you," she said breathlessly.

Midnight glowered. "To what purpose? Nothing you can say will change anything."

Sensing that he was going to turn away and lock her inside again, she quickly said, "You must be hungry. I'll cook something."

Her words surprised them both—her because she had been meaning to tell him that Natsu wasn't going to come for her now and him because it just wasn't something a captive would say.

Midnight stiffened and raised a skeptical eyebrow at her.

She took a deep, steadying breath and said, "I'm hungry too. There's no use in starving ourselves." She just needed an excuse to get out of the room, to get him to listen to her.

He was looking at her with something akin to disgusted wonderment. "You must be an idiot if you think I'm going to give you a chance to poison me."

Lucy looked at him indignantly. This guy was as paranoid as they came. "And just what am I going to poison you with? Besides, my goal isn't to kill you."

Midnight was clearly unconvinced, but he hadn't turned away yet and she reasoned that he might actually be hungry. Her thoughts strayed back to the idea of him cooking for himself. It didn't seem likely.

She went on, almost hopefully. "You can monitor me cooking and I won't try to escape," she said as honestly as she could, and she felt that she was telling the truth. If she did try to escape, what were the chances of succeeding? He would probably just catch her again—she didn't have magic she could use to fight back with—and then there would be even less of a chance to talk through this like adults.

He looked reluctant and unerringly suspicious, but at last stepped aside from the door to allow her out. Lucy gave an inner cheer of success. Now she could get fed _and_ over the meal she would cook she could try to talk to him. If she made something good enough, she might be able to win points and he might be willing to hear her out.

Lucy realized that she did not know her foe very well. She had no idea what she could say that would appeal to him and she had no idea what his buttons were—she could easily piss him off without trying. This was her best chance to try and talk to him. Even if he wouldn't let her go, there phrase _'know thy enemy'_ was incredibly important in this case. The faster she got out of here, the higher her chances were for retrieving her keys and returning to the guild. She knew it would take time, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to accelerate the process.

She was under no illusions that it would be as easy as talking to him to convince him to let her go. Midnight had apparently gone to a lot of trouble to hatch this plan and execute it, but she wouldn't give up hope. This was just her first attempt, and it was a tall order to try and convince a criminal to let his captive go, but doing something out of purely good will had to do something for her goal of getting away, right? If nothing else, she could try to gain more freedom. Trust didn't seem like it was ever going to happen, but she could do her best.

With these thoughts whirring through her head, Lucy followed Midnight into the small nook that was a pathetic excuse for a kitchen. There was little more than a stove, oven, and sink. No microwave and only a very tiny refrigerator. On top of all that, it was covered in dust and grime and Lucy knew that before she could use the kitchen, she was going to have to clean it up.

"Do you have anything to clean with? Rags or something?" she asked as politely as she could. No use in antagonizing him, after all.

Midnight gave her what could only be a look of incredulity before his expression hardened. "The domestic card won't work. Don't be naïve and think that just because you be a good little _maid _is going to change anything."

Lucy found his accusations groundless and decided to ignore them, simply maintaining eye contact to prove her seriousness. Eventually he pointed towards a small closet where she found a dirty mop, a bucket, cleaning supplies that were surely expired in some way or another and, to her relief, some relatively clean white rags.

While Midnight situated himself at the large dining table—fitted for six—adjacent to the kitchen, Lucy grabbed some cleaning supplies that she knew didn't expire and went to work on the kitchen. By the end her stomach was growling and she was so hungry she was in pain, but it was now possible to cook without fear of contamination.

It occurred to her as she worked that she wasn't behaving much like a captive, but rather like a host, and she ignored it. She was still stung over him throwing her keys out of the train like that, but being angry or hurt by him wouldn't work. Midnight seemed to enjoy getting a rile out of her and hurting her, so the best thing she could do in this situation was be impenetrable.

In her cleaning efforts, she discovered some dried packaged miso and some noodles that _might_ not have expired. She decided she would do her best with what she had discovered.

As she boiled the water in her newly-cleaned pot, she glanced at Midnight surreptitiously from the corner of her eye.

To her surprise, he was leaned back in his seat and his eyes were closed. From his steady, even breathing, she realized he was asleep.

Lucy couldn't help be remember how for the first time they had met him, he had been sleeping on that flying carpet. However, she was pretty sure this was just a test, so she remained in the kitchen cooking. He was probably trying to get her to attempt to escape just so he could lock her up again.

_That _didn't make any sense because he could lock her up without needing a reason, but Lucy decided to go with her gut instinct and finish cooking. The soup and noodles were starting to smell very good and her stomach growled appreciatively.

While the soup finished cooking, she cleaned out a pair of bowls, chopsticks, and spoons and set the table. He didn't even flinch at the clack of the bowls hitting the wood and she began to wonder if he was really asleep or not. Or, she reasoned with herself, he was probably a great actor.

Finally she set the pot on the table and served herself. She waited a moment because obviously Midnight would 'wake up' now that she was seated at the table with delicious food waiting for consumption, but he didn't stir.

Tentatively, she filled his bowl and the watched him curiously. He still didn't move.

Deciding that if he wanted to let his food get cold over this act, she wasn't going to be concerned. He _had_ thrown her keys out of the window of a moving train, after all. She had no obligation to be _that _nice.

In her opinion, she was being a saint at the moment.

Her hunger made her quickly take a large gulp of her soup, but she had underestimated how hot it was and immediately yelped as it touched her tongue and burned her esophagus as it made its way down.

When she glanced over at Midnight, she realized he had blearily opened his eyes and was staring down at the soup poured into his bowl with something like suspicion.

"If there is anything dangerous in here…" he said slowly, and she noted his voice was slightly raspy.

Her eyes widened minutely. He had really been asleep! Lucy inwardly cursed—she _so _could have a made run for it!

"There isn't," she promised, taking another sip of her soup. However, she noticed that Midnight still stood, poured out his portion of soup down the drain, and served himself again from the pot.

He was _really _paranoid.

A thought crossed her mind and it surprisingly made her sad: how many times did one have to be betrayed in order to instill such distrust in a person?

Midnight ate slowly while Lucy raced to fill her stomach. The silence was awkward and uncomfortable, at least for her, but he didn't seem bothered by it at all. After a while, Lucy decided that she should take advantage of this and try talking to him.

"Um…" she started eloquently. He glanced at her but paid her little attention after that, continuing to sedately eat his soup.

She tried again. "You know that Natsu isn't going to come after me, right?" she said quietly. Whether she liked it or not, the previous silence still weighed on her.

"All the better then," he replied indifferently, still sipping his soup.

"If Natsu doesn't come, then what's the point of this?" she said, a little louder in her confusion.

He gave her look that could only be translated as 'are you stupid?' and Lucy frowned at him.

"Look, Natsu's the one who ruined all your plans, right?" she demanded. "So if he doesn't come, then what are you even trying to achieve? I didn't even-"

_Bam!_

Lucy stiffened and looked after Midnight with fear in her eyes. He had slammed his closed fist on the table and his eyes were closed, as though he had lost all semblance of patience with the situation—or rather, her.

"Do you really not know why you are here?" he said softly, his tone dangerous.

Lucy wasn't sure if she should reply to the question that promised retribution for a wrong answer, but she gave it a shot anyways. "No, I don't," she said. She hated the way her voice was so timid.

Midnight opened his eyes and glared at her with such malice that she unconsciously shrunk away from him. "Who used the Real Nightmare, other than myself?" he asked and Lucy had the feeling it was rhetorical, but she thought about it anyway.

Midnight had had a chance to use it, albeit for only a short period of time, and nobody else had…

Oh.

_Oh_.

"That's why I'm here?" she said disbelievingly. "You're mad at me because I helped Natsu defeat you?" Her voice raised in volume. "Hello! You were trying to erase me from _existence!_ And I'm just supposed to let that happen? Are you saying you would just let _yourself_ be erased from existence?"

It happened in a split second.

The table was knocked over, soup spilling everywhere, and Midnight had her pinned up against the nearest wall by her throat. Gagging, Lucy struggled against his iron grip as he cut off her oxygen.

His word were so soft she almost couldn't hear them over her struggling and the spinning of her head at the impact against the stone wall. "The weak don't deserve to exist anyway," he hissed. He let her choke for a moment longer, tightening his grip so that it almost crushed her windpipe, before dropping her callously to the ground.

"Clean this up," he said calmly. He had regained his composure. "And then return to your room. If you disobey me, your precious _manuscript_," he spat out the word like it was poison, "will be forfeit."

He left.

Only after he had been gone for a good five minutes did Lucy let herself cry. It hurt her throat to sob or make any noise at all, so she was quiet as she cried. Quietly she picked up what had fallen and righted the table before washing out the pots and bowls. With shaking hands she mopped up the wasted meal and then, even though she wanted to just run for it, manuscript be damned, she returned to her room.

She cried herself to sleep that night.

* * *

_I personally found it a bit cute that Midnight ACTUALLY fell asleep while Lucy was cooking, but that's just me. Midnight wouldn't appreciate being considered cute, anyhow, but whatever._

_Reviews are love!_


	4. Change of Tide

**Change of Tide**

Despite how disastrous the night before had been, Midnight fetched her the next morning to make breakfast. However, this time, he taunted her as she cooked.

He gloated his victory at her expulsion from her guild, her home, and replayed the incident verbally over and over again in excruciating, painful detail. Even though she tried to fight her emotions and make herself ignore him, every time he talked about another facet of his victory over her, tears sprang to her eyes.

She stayed silent the entire time, however. Arguing with him would only let him know he was getting to her and exacerbate the problem. She stirred the rice she had found with more force than was probably necessary and monitored her vegetables, which had been freeze-dried and maintained in the tiny refrigerator's freezer. It was a miracle they had even lasted and she was a little dubious as to their quality, but she supposed that if one cooked any food enough it could be considered edible.

With the exception of meat. No rancid meat for her, thank you.

The cooking of the meal seemed to take much longer with Midnight's mockery and finally, she whirled on him.

"You really like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" she asked sweetly, but the fake smile—more of a grimace, really—she had plastered on her face gave away her anger.

Midnight paused mid-sentence and narrowed his eyes at her dangerously.

Immediately she backed down, turning towards the stove again and showing him her back. Lucy took to stirring the grilling vegetables, deciding not to poke the lion any more than she already had. Silence descended, for which she was grateful, but the aura her captor was radiating was something that worried her.

She was relieved when she taste-tested the vegetables and they tasted fine. She added them to the miso soup she had made a repeat of—if Midnight gave her trouble about it, she would gladly tell him that his highness needed to go grocery shopping if he wanted anything else to eat—and then began to set the table, giving Midnight a wide berth as she placed down the utensils and dinnerware.

Using some relatively-clean rags to hold the hot metal pot, she carried the soup and rice over to the table and began to serve herself. She noticed that Midnight didn't even start to ladle soup into his bowl until after she had taken a sip of the soup, his eyes watching her every movement suspiciously.

She was past the point of feeling sorry for him. This paranoia was just a _little_ exasperating. However, with his body language still displaying his displeasure with her earlier words, she made the wise decision not to comment on his behavior.

The silence went on and on as they ate, the only sounds being the clacking of the spoons on the bowls and the soft slurping of soup. Lucy didn't want to be considered fraternizing with the enemy, but she was bored.

"We need more food," she said abruptly.

Midnight glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "And I suppose you want to go get it?" he asked curiously.

His tone was innocent. _Too _innocent.

"Well…no…not necessarily," she replied haltingly. Talking to Midnight was like walking through a mine field and she was doing it blindfolded. When silence prevailed, she went on, "I mean…unless you want me to…?"

He leveled her was a flat look and Lucy couldn't help the fact that she reddened and looked down at her near-empty bowl to hide her embarrassment. She would never make it in diplomacy or, more ironically, hostage negotiations.

"There's food here," he told her with finality. She glanced up at him in surprise and not just a little bit of dubiousness. "There is a basement with rations where you can find whatever you will need to cook."

She frowned. "That would have been helpful _last night_," she said sullenly, looking away from him in just the tiniest amount of irritation.

Midnight went on as though she hadn't spoken. "Or I could just let you starve to death. I _am _capable of fending for myself, despite the fact that Angel usually cooked for us."

"How chauvinistic," she muttered. "Of course the _woman _would be the cook. Did she clean, too?"

He glowered at her. "Racer, if I recall correctly, was the fastest and therefore kept the base clean. We all had our duties."

"And let me guess, Cobra took care of the garden and Hoteye paid the bills?"

His look was scathing, but she went on unfettered.

"What, pray tell, did _you _do? Sleep all day?"

The look went from angry to meaningful. "I _eliminated_ annoyances to the guild."

Lucy took the hint and cleared the table before taking them to kitchen to clean while Midnight sat there, watching her impassively.

Despite her lack of luck in the conversation department of her current life, Lucy had to ask the question had started to bother her.

"So why am I here, exactly? I get that you want to get revenge and all, but…" His expression morphed into something like the light bulb of inspiration going off in his head and promptly, she shut her mouth with a click.

"I suppose you're right. I've been _much_ too lenient."

"No! No, not at all!" she backtracked quickly, but the damage had been done. She flinched and backed away as he stood and approached her, leaning on the back on the sink.

"No, you may continue," he said saccharinely, but his eyes were hard and venomous. She slowly approached the sink again, cautiously soaping up the dishes to go on cleaning them, although her hands moved much more quickly. She wanted to get this over with. When she had gotten back into the rhythm of cleaning, now onto the pot, Midnight went on. "You're very good at that," he told her, referring to her cleaning.

Tentatively, she risked making eye contact. Was that… a _compliment?_

His expression was patronizing. "I just mean that you _must _be good at something to have ingratiated yourself into a guild, no matter how pathetic that guild may be."

Her jaw dropped. "I did _not _ingratiate my way into-"

Midnight interrupted her. "You must have if they were so willing to let you go at the slightest mishap. So you get angry and have a fight with another member? Sounds like something that happens all the time when people interact so frequently."

"You don't understand-"

"I wonder if they would have banished _Natsu_ for something so petty."

The words were cutting and Lucy flinched. Would they have? Natsu, one of their oldest, strongest, and most important members?

But that was ridiculous, because Natsu would never…

The thought trailed off. He'd fought until blood was drawn with Gray over the pettiest things, but never had they been pulled aside like she had.

But that was because it wasn't malicious! That was because-!

How did they know whether what she had done was truly malicious? How did they know Lisanna hadn't actually done something terrible to her?

Would they get rid of Natsu if he got into an actual, physical fight with Gray? Even if Gray didn't fight back?

_Would they?_

* * *

He said nothing else after Lucy fell silent. Her expression had fallen and her shoulders drooped as she turned the idea over in her head. If he said anything else, it was possible it would distract her from the downward spiral of her thoughts.

It was true that he had been too lenient with her. Her eagerness to cook the night before had softened him a bit, even though it had only been because he had remembered Angel's tuneless humming as she would prepare dinner on the rare nights that they were actually at the base. It must have been a celestial mage thing because Angel's presence had been soothing to him; he had fallen asleep while waiting for dinner often, and it seemed that the same thing had been repeated last night with his prisoner. Lucy was intelligent to not have attempted to escape because he would have been glad to recapture her and punish the action accordingly, but it also made him question her sanity. He had _clearly_ been asleep and she just waited for him to wake up as though she was a guest here?

What an idiot.

Anyway, her likeness to Angel had obviously made him go easy on her, even though she had enraged him by truly not understanding why he wanted revenge. He supposed it was entirely understandable that she thought he wanted Natsu, but it was flawed thinking anyway—if he wanted to kill Natsu, he easily could have done so. He still might after Lucy was well on the way to breaking, just to cinch the knot, but that was not his goal at this time.

Midnight was quite enjoying watching the dejected Lucy dry the last of the used crockery and put them away. Her spirit had been practically flattened and it pleased him more than he could have ever imagined it could.

Keeping her eyes to the ground and not saying another word, she went for the room that was her prison. He followed her and locked the door behind her as she entered without a word and flopped herself on the bed.

He stood outside and listened for a while, satisfied when he finally heard quiet, muffled sobs from the other side of the door.

* * *

The next few days passed without incident. Lucy had been suitably depressed for what he was trying accomplish and as he understood that breaking someone mentally was more difficult than breaking them physically, he decided that letting her slowly drown in her thoughts was a good idea. Once she had reached the breaking point, when it was the end of line and she either had the choice to claw her way back to the top or sink so deep she was forever unreachable, he had decided he would let her climb up. Of course, just before she surfaced, he would kick her back down and watch her drown all over again.

His plans to free the rest of the Oracion Seis were at a standstill for now, after all, and he had nothing better to do than to torment her.

Midnight had considered physically hurting her to pour salt on the wound, but he found the thought of fighting someone who was by all means a civilian at this point unpalatable. He could torture her, which would remove the mindset of even ground and put her at his mercy, but Lucy was the kind of person who only needed something to fight against to give her strength. She had fought back so miraculously in such a hopeless situation in the process of being sacrificed to the Infinity Clock that he would have admired her if she were any other person; however, she was Lucy and her inner strength was useless to him at this point. After watching her spiral downwards with the right provocation, he realized that her worst enemy was herself. He just had to say the right things and she would break herself.

The fact that she did not need much help from him to meet her downfall was a bit of a letdown, but he wasn't going to be picky about how Lucy Heartfilia met her end—he only cared that she did.

Dinner was a quiet affair. He was perfectly fine eating in silence and she had no interest in starting a conversation with him, lost in her thoughts as she was. Her appetite had waned for a few days and he took that as a good sign, but today she was eating normally and perhaps with even a little gusto. It was the same usual fare of miso soup and rice, although she had found some canned umeboshi in the basement and made some onigiri to go along with the meal.

Her cooking wasn't half bad, even in her depression, he mused. It was almost on par with Angel's, actually, and-

_Slam!_

Midnight calmly looked up from his onigiri to observe Lucy, who was glaring at him with fury in her eyes that he had never seen before.

This did not bode well for his revenge.

"I don't ever want to hear you say anything bad about my friends ever again," she said, his voice strong and proud. "You can say whatever you want about me, how-how weak I am, or whether I am unwanted, or whatever takes your fancy, but _never_ will you imply that Fairy Tail would be so low as to pretend to care about someone when they didn't. I _know_ they cared about me and yes, they _would_ banish Natsu if he broke one of the guild's rules. Makarov is fair and just. He will do whatever is best for the family, even if it hurts him in the process."

Well, this was inconvenient.

Apparently, Lucy hadn't been able to disassemble herself as easily as he would have thought. He wondered how much of her time had been spent depressed as opposed to logically working out what the truth was. He didn't want her to spend her time here finding answers to the world's endless mysteries—he wanted to see her crack and shatter into a thousand irreparable pieces.

"And while we're having this conversation-" he raised an eyebrow in vague exasperation. She wasn't done? He figured he might as well let her say her piece; better to let her get it all out so she had less gumption to fight with later. "-I want you to know that whatever you're trying to do isn't going to work. You can keep me here as long as you like, but I'm never going to give in. You can do whatever you want and it won't make a difference. _I'm not surrendering._"

It seemed she required a different tactic.

"Very well," he replied mildly, hiding his irritation with her flawlessly. It couldn't be helped. "Finish eating and then return to your room."

"Just hearing your voice made me lose my appetite," she spat defiantly, standing angrily.

He hid a smirk as he sipped his soup. "Then go to your room."

Without another word, she stomped off.

At his leisure he followed her and locked the door silently. He then cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, which was normally her self-imposed duty but that was about to change.

After tidying up the kitchen, he returned to his room to meditate. It was going to be a blissfully peaceful and quiet next seven days.

Because yes, seven days without food should be enough to make her rethink her situation.

* * *

_Day One_

* * *

Lucy was surprised when Midnight didn't come get her the next morning, but she ignored it in favor of sleeping in. The cot wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world, but as far as cots went it was pretty nice. After the blanket had been beaten a few times to release all the dust, she found that it was quite lush and warm. She wished for a window—she hadn't seen the light of the sun or felt a warm breeze since the day she had been banished from Fairy Tail—but overall, for a prisoner she was living rather comfortably.

When she had finished sleeping in—mainly because her stomach was demanding food—she got up and tried the doorknob, wondering if perhaps he had left it unlocked for her to come make breakfast when she awoke. It was firmly locked and she sighed in irritation, but decided that maybe he was mad or something and didn't want to feed her.

She lost track of time. Her boredom was endless and she had no real idea of how much time had passed, only that her stomach was rumbling terribly.

Somewhere along the line she realized she had to go to the bathroom and began waiting impatiently to be let out. Time continued to pass in what seemed like slower and slower intervals and eventually, she knocked on her door. She needed food, but more importantly, she needed to pee.

After her knocks escalated to banging, Midnight came and opened the door.

"Do you need to use the restroom?" he asked without preamble.

She wasn't sure why that was important enough to Midnight for him to ask, but she nodded. He motioned for her to follow him and she did so hastily. She couldn't help but notice the tantalizing smell of—was that _tonkatsu?—_from the kitchen and she was surprised that such extravagant food was around when she hadn't found any of the kind in the basement. Either way, once she went to the bathroom, she was looking forward to lunch.

Midnight led her to a larger bedroom with a real bed and a bookshelf, although admittedly with few books, and pointed to the attached bathroom. Her need was urgent now and she rushed to the bathroom, closing the door behind her loudly.

She was relieved to see what looked like a fully-functional shower in the small bathroom, as well. Maybe if she asked, Midnight would let her use it.

After doing her business, she left the bathroom and went to follow Midnight to the kitchen.

She found that while the door was not locked, it was jammed in place and would not open.

Horror slowly filled her. She was now trapped in a room with a bathroom, which was nice, but he hadn't fed her all day. Before she could jump to conclusions, she decided to wait a little longer. The horror of what could possibly be happening couldn't settle in yet.

However, when she smelled tempting, delicious food from the kitchen and he did not come to get her, Lucy was forced to acknowledge this for what it was. The signs were all there.

One: fancy food that she had not had access to before.

Two: room with a bathroom.

Three: said bathroom had a sink that could dispense water.

Four: she had not been fed today and was likely not going to be at all.

He was starving her.

After she cried over her predicament, she realized that she couldn't stay any longer. She might not have anywhere else to go, but even on the streets she would be able to find something to eat, even if it was out of a garbage can.

Here…here she was at a sadist's mercy. There really was no other option.

For now, though, she would sleep.

Midnight was truly enjoying the new groceries he had obtained. It tasted all the better knowing that Lucy would probably do anything he wanted her to in order to eat with him at the dinner table right now.

Hundreds of miles away, Natsu had come to the conclusion that Lucy was in trouble.

* * *

_Day Two_

* * *

The hunger was worse the second day and the delicious smells coming from the kitchen were becoming unbearable.

She drank water to keep her stomach feeling full so that she could function. However, the room seemed to be impenetrable. The walls were made of stone and there were no weak points that she could find. This room did not have a window, either, which would have made everything easier.

Trying to ignore her hunger, she relentlessly looked for a way to escape, plotted and planned, and ultimately slept when her stomach pain allowed her to.

She couldn't help but notice that her thoughts of hope were feeling a little less inspiring, but thinking about freedom gave her the push she needed to keep going.

Solitude was one of his favorite things in the world. He had only stayed with the Oracion Seis because they offered him a dream that was tangible. He didn't need 'strength in numbers' like other guilds did. He was a loner by nature and only his attachment to his father had kept him loyal—Brain's dreams were his dreams, even in their separation.

He was certain that his father would approve of his conquest with Lucy.

In Magnolia, a search party had been organized. All three of the Strauss siblings insisted on participating. Streets were scoured and everyone worked as one to find her.

It never occurred to a single guild member that Lucy was no longer a part of the guild and therefore, not their responsibility.

* * *

_Day Three_

* * *

Lucy was sick of water. She wanted food.

She spent most of the day exploring the bathroom, trying to find a weakness there since it had not occurred to her before. It expended most of her energy and she was finding it harder and harder to remain motivated for an escape when the smell of perfectly good food drifted into her room.

Eventually, she grew too tired to keep searching and laid down for what was meant to be only a few minutes and turned into sleeping the rest of the day, dreaming of unending plates of sushi.

When she woke up from hunger pains, she cried until she was too exhausted to move.

He checked on her in the middle of the night to find her sleeping fitfully. She was already looking a little thinner and her skin was paler than usual, although it could have been the lack of sunlight for the past nearly two weeks. Unconcerned, he closed the door and made sure it was jammed in place correctly before going back to sleep.

The sushi he'd had for dinner had made him contentedly drowsy.

The search party raged on, spanning to the towns surrounding Magnolia. There wasn't so much as a whisper of Lucy's presence.

* * *

_Day Four_

* * *

She was too tired to move and too weak to care. She spent her time crying and dreaming of sustenance—anything would do. She drank as much water as she could stomach and sat in the shower to distract herself from her hopeless thoughts.

It was becoming harder to fight the thoughts of hopelessness. It was becoming easier to hate Midnight.

It was becoming very tempting to just give in so this would be over with.

He was starting to get bored. He went outside and trained in the forest, which had always calmed his mind in the past, but he was eager to see how Lucy was faring but also concerned that seeing him would give her strength. He refused to give her anything to hold onto and let her starvation and solitude continue.

Natsu was panicking and ready to launch a full-scale search of Fiore. Happy willingly flew him for longer and longer distances.

They found nothing.

* * *

_Day Five_

* * *

She was in pain and she was going to make it known to the world.

Unfortunately, she had to conserve her energy for things that were important, so breaking down the door with the disassembled bookshelf was out of the question.

She still took a good few whacks at the doorknob with a shelf plank until her grip faltered. Lucy then came up with the plan of rest, drink water, beat on the door, rinse and repeat.

She would find a way out of here. She wasn't going to die like this.

Then the cramps came and she lay there crying again.

* * *

_Day Six_

* * *

She slept, she cried, and she hurt.

Lucy didn't try to knock down the door anymore.

He was waiting for the end of the starvation period, too. He was bored. He needed someone to torment and knowing that his prey was just twenty feet down the hall, wasting away without his help, bothered him in a way he didn't care to describe.

Natsu came back to the guild after constant searching for the past seventy-two hours, sat at a table, and cried silently with Happy at his side. Erza was gravely silent and trained ferociously. Gray had been fully clothed since Lucy's official disappearance. Lisanna spent most of her time crying and begging for forgiveness. The entire guild was morose and quiet, their voices hushed as though they were in a graveyard.

Makarov was starting to wonder if he hadn't made a grave mistake.

* * *

_Day Seven_

* * *

She would do anything he wanted her to.

I'll do anything.

If he just let her out of here…

Anything you want.

"Please," she whispered into her wet pillow. "I'll do anything."

Please.

* * *

_Depressing chapter, eh? Well, anyways, please review! :)_


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